704/1123 - Maggie's pot-roasted quinces

This is the second recipe not cooked by me and another one made by my lovely mum. A longer cooking time means a wonderfully sticky finish for this brightly coloured and deeply flavoured fruit.

As of yesterday, there are now seven of us on board working together to get this challenge finished. While it still feels a little weird to not be cooking everything myself, I am so grateful to have a newly formed team around me to see this incredible project to fruition. I have big plans to expand our numbers and am wholeheartedly welcoming anybody who is keen to participate.

My thought is that we will all gather together at the end to celebrate a job well done - hopefully much sooner than the projected 8 years from now! 

Help!

With renewed enthusiasm for this fabulous challenge, I am aiming to post at least one completed recipe every week until this beast has been conquered. According to my calculations, this means I will finally be finished in 8 or so years from now. But if the momentum really gets rolling, I might start posting twice a week because 4 years doesn't sound too far away! 

So...what this means is that I need my foodie community to start stepping up! I have a spreadsheet of the remaining 400 or so recipes ready and waiting to send to anybody who would like to jump in and help. All you have to do is DM me your email address and you will be an official member of the CCC team. With 5 people already on board, I am confident we can finally get to the end of this gargantuan task. Who else is in??

The best ways to catch me are via email at kateinteralia@gmail.com, or via Facebook or Instagram

Let's goooo!

The final update

The unthinkable has happened...in the very best way! A most beautiful person offered to buy me a copy of the fourth instalment of this most fabulous book which has inspired me to again participate in the completion of this challenge alongside the community. Looking through the outstanding recipes, I was THRILLED to see how many I might be able to still eat (some with a little tweaking) and with more energy up my sleeve than I have had in years, I am excited to get stuck in. 

Like a true geek, I spent my Saturday night updating my spreadsheet and can officially confirm the new challenge parameters; 

🍽 1038 recipe goal is now 1123 

🍽 68% completion rate has dropped to 63% 

🍽 There are still 125 chapters, names largely unchanged 🥳 

🍽 32 chapters were finished, this is now down to 17 

🍽 There are still 7 chapters we have not started 

Stephanie Alexander has continued to stay up with food trends and also the newest version includes SO much more kitchen help and info. Also, it is STUNNING and what you can't see from this angle is that the edges of the pages are rainbow coloured, a beautiful nod to the previous version. Already planning my next recipe so watch this space! 

-Kate x

703/1038 - Pissaladière

 

The first of the community recipes! My mum made this one, saving me from the anchovies I can no longer eat. My mum has actually made this many times over the years so it was no effort for her to throw it together once more for the sake of the challenge. Thanks, mum! 

Exciting announcement!

I am sure that many of you know by now that my health situation has changed and that most foods are no longer safe for me to eat. My heart still imagines forging on and completing this challenge but my head is acutely aware that this is no longer a reality for me. So I have decided to broaden the scope of my very first major gastronomic project and open the Cook's Companion Challenge up to the community! 

With more than 700 recipes already cooked, the end is (practically) in sight! To participate you will need any version of The Cook's Companion (because the recipes are not mine to share) and a willingness to cook, photograph and describe the result with me. I will throw together a few questions to answer so that I can write about the experience as if I was a part of the process, but full credit will be given to the actual chef! 

I don't usually like the idea of group projects but this one has me excited! If you are keen to participate, simply name a chapter you would like to explore and I will share the recipes that are yet to be cooked. Better yet, just shoot me a message and we can find something that works for you. 

FYI: The chapters I have already finished are: Abalone Apples Apricots Asian greens Asparagus Avocados Bacon Bananas Bay leaves Beans, dried Bread Broccoli Bugs Carrots Cauliflowers Chives Corn Fennel Garlic Jerusalem artichokes Kangaroo and wallaby Lentils Mint Parsley Parsnips Pasta and noodles Pears Prawns Pumpkins Sage Sweet potatoes Yoghurt 

Let's get this thing done! 

 - Kate

702/1038 - Parsnip croquettes

I decided to make these little croquettes gluten free and so substituted breadcrumbs for coarsely ground almond meal. The resulting morsels were lovely and crispy, with a nutty flavour that paired beautifully with the parsnip. This recipe marks the end of the parsnip chapter, making that thirty two of one hundred and twenty five chapters officially completed. Of course this number might change next year as I contemplate upgrading yet again to the 30 year anniversary edition! Stay tuned for my final decision...

701/1038 - Buttered parsnip with toasted crumbs

As promised, parsnips have featured heavily in this house over the last few days! This was a lovely and simple recipe that again elevated parsnips beyond their not-so-exciting taste. I replaced the toasted breadcrumbs with cauliflower crumb which did make the dish wheat free but probably also took half the fun, and some of the crunch, out of the eating. Even so, a really tasty side. 

700/1038 - Parsnip tart

Recipe 700 is in the books! It may have taken 14 years to get here but a significant milestone nonetheless. 

Keen to share in this sumptuous dish, I replaced the shortcrust pastry with one made from almond flour and linseed and it was crunchy and fabulous. My best tip for gluten free pastry is to rub butter all over the pastry case (chilled, not melted) and then press bits of the pastry all over until you have a perfect shell - so much easier than trying to roll it out! Refrigerate the pastry in the tin for an hour and then bake blind before adding the filling. 

This beautiful tart had the most incredible hint of onion and improved as it cooled, firming up into the silkiest texture imaginable. It would rest comfortably as a first course or even as an accompaniment to a main course of red meat or poultry. 

Unsurprisingly, I highly recommend this incredible tart!

699/1038 - Braised pears with lemon myrtle

Yes, another pear recipe but this time from the bush foods chapter! Unfortunately I didn't have any lemon myrtle leaves but I did have ground lemon myrtle which imparted the most incredible and subtle tang to this dish. Whilst cooking a huge batch of these for dinner guests, I also made myself a white wine version and can confirm that this recipe works equally well no matter the colour of the wine!  

I served the pears cold but imagine they would also be incredible straight from the pan. My recommendation is to definitely use your good wine on this one to ensure a decadent finish. Holy cow - only one more recipe until we reach the 700 milestone! 

698/1038 - Braised and glazed turnips (with Bundarra bacon)

Turnips are a wonderful, and wildly underused, low starch alternative to potatoes. I made this as a side for a recent dinner party and served it cold so that I could relax rather than cook when our friends were here. The addition of incredible Bundarra bacon was inspired, further elevating what was already a well flavoured dish. 

My husband is the regular shopper of the family and, on the day of the dinner party, I sent him out with a short list of ingredients to procure. With other things on his mind, he returned home with an enormous bag of parsnips rather than turnips. Of course he headed straight back out to buy turnips, resolving the issue of the day but leaving me with a load of unexpected root vegetables which were not on my cooking radar.

A quick check of my spreadsheet tells me that there are three parsnip recipes I have not yet cooked so expect to see a significant amount of parsnip action on the blog in the coming days!

697/1038 - Pears baked as in Savoy

We are already five recipes back into the challenge and it appears I am inadvertently alternating between sweet and savoury posts! I quite like the synergy of this and will attempt to continue this trend for as long as is practicable.   

This unbelievably easy dish was absolute perfection, and by mid-dessert I was already receiving requests for it to be repeated. The pears were tender but with just enough give so as to not be mushy. The earthiness of the fruit was balanced beautifully with the sweetness of the sugar and vanilla bean, and the butter and cream filled sauce added a wonderfully rich mouthfeel. A brilliant dish for gluten free friends and one that can be easily timed to hit the table just as dinner is digesting and your guests are ready for their final course.  

696/1038 - Pork with prunes

Yet another recipe which included my recently made redcurrant jelly! The bright red jelly has turned out to be a very versatile little condiment and one that is low in histamine which makes me very happy indeed. The final flavour of this dish was heavenly, with a rich and deeply flavoured sauce. 

Because I no longer eat flour, I dusted the pork in coconut flour and the result was a subtle hint of sweetness in the final dish. The pork was again sourced from the fabulous Bundarra Farm and was, unsurprisingly, tender and delicate. 

Overall, a pretty fabulous dish that required no additional seasoning. Stephanie hits it out of the park again. 

694 & 695/1038 - Fresh berry tart with simple redcurrant jelly

Making desserts is one of my favourite things to do and so my family are treated to sweet things on a regular basis. There is often a wave of excitement when a new dessert is presented, followed by the leftovers languishing in the fridge for a bit before finally being demolished. Not so with this tart! Home made pastry paired with pastry cream and a berry combo is obviously the happy place for my family because this was demolished in record time.

I had grand plans of eating a version that was modified to suit my specific dietary needs (a bowl of pastry cream with berries and a redcurrant sauce sounded heavenly!) but unfortunately there was cornflour in the pastry cream recipe. Undeterred, I enjoyed a simple bowl of berries with redcurrant jelly whilst basking in the compliments that came thick and fast as we ate. I am told that the tartness of the berries and redcurrant jelly were fabulously offset by the sweet pastry cream. And of course homemade pastry is always a hit with my family, providing a much appreciated crunch. 

This is a very easy dessert, with no baking required once the pastry case has been made and blind baked. Definitely a wonderful choice for easy assembly when entertaining. 

693/1038 - Mustard sauce (and Schweinshaxe!)

My favourite pork producer has a community supported agriculture model which allows consumers to share in the costs, risks and rewards of their lovely little ethical farm. I have been a proud CSA subscriber of Bundarra Farm for some time now and absolutely love opening my box every month to see what goodies are inside. 

To ensure none of the pig is wasted, the cuts I receive are never the same. This month I was fortunate to receive two incredible looking pork hocks which were simply crying out to be turned into Schweinshaxe. Schweinshaxe is a German peasant dish that is so unbelievably tasty it might be the only thing I ever do with pork hocks. The well flavoured meat fell easily off the bone and the crackling was crunchy and fabulous. In my opinion, cheaper cuts of meat are wildly underrated and with enough care, can always be turned into a tasty meal. 

Elevating our porky dinner experience was Stephanie's dill and mustard sauce which was almost a complete disaster. Let's just say rushing an emulsion is never a good idea. Thankfully broken emulsions can be saved with a raw egg yolk and as an added bonus, the yolk added a silky richness to what would have already been a most fabulous sauce. 

692/1038 - Sweet yoghurt and saffron puddings

After a very long break, this recipe marks two milestones - two thirds of the challenge completed and thirty chapters completely cooked. The yoghurt chapter is not insignificant, with thirteen lovely recipes in all, and this one is an absolute cracker.

I adore saffron but the fact that it is more expensive than gold (by weight) means that I don't cook with it often. Saffron, the proper kind, is harvested by hand from the crocus flower which is what drives the cost beyond most people's comfort zone. To extract the wonderful flavour from the threads, they are first soaked in warm milk before being added to the pudding mix. Combined with cardamom and pistachios, the resulting flavour is simultaneously subtle and complex. The luxuriously smooth texture of the drained yoghurt was the final piece in this glorious dessert puzzle. 

I will definitely be making these lovely little puddings again, perhaps trying out different flavour combinations now that I am devoid of saffron threads. Draining the fluids (whey) from the yoghurt also provides me with the most fabulous base for my morning smoothie so it's almost as if I MUST make this on a regular basis! 

691/1038 - Silverbeet gratin

Silverbeet is a wonderful vegetable but I don't buy it often - a good sized bunch takes up almost an entire shelf in my fridge and it can be a pain to prepare. But today I received my first "mystery box" of produce from Funky Food and I was secretly thrilled to find the most enormous bunch of silverbeet staring up at me when I took off the lid. Sometimes we need a push to change things up a little!

The concept behind Funky Food is brilliant - it saves the oddballs of the fruit and veg department from landfill and delivers it at a discounted cost to people who are unafraid of the undersized or the funky shaped. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the quality of the produce and receiving 18 kilograms of the fresh stuff every week will ensure we don't take our eye off the fruit and vegie eating ball. 

Having grown up without smartphones, I may never lose my fascination for tracking delivery vans as they make their way to my home. I found it difficult to hide my excitement today as I watched the tiny little car on my phone-screen turn into my street. The Funky Food driver may or may not have been surprised to find me standing on our front porch, arms outstretched, anticipating his arrival. But perhaps everybody is this excited when their first order arrives! 

My kitchen looks as if a bomb has been dropped on it, but the resulting gratin was absolutely worth it. The silverbeet was trimmed, washed, separated, chopped and boiled. It was then pan-fried with garlic and so much oil and butter that I am already mentally calculating how much extra weight I will need to strap to my body when I head out for my run tomorrow. A simple white sauce was added the mix which was then baked in individual portions, sprinkled generously with breadcrumbs and a dash of olive oil. Every bite was creamy, crunchy and absolutely humming with garlic - yes, more Funky Food fabulousness! 

The diners at my table tonight had the choice of pairing their mini gratin with either a barbequed chicken thigh or spicy beef sausage. Not one person left the table unhappy. 

690/1038 - Christmas mince pies

Although I technically missed the Christmas cut off when baking these, I am yet to hear any complaints. As well as feeding my Mum and my two fruit loving boys, these pies made a lovely gift for a friend who looked after our pets while we were away at the beach. I am very, very good at avoiding food that will hurt me but the smell of these amazing little morsels was very difficult to take! 

I couldn't find any mixed peel in the house, and so used chopped up brandied cumquats instead. Apparently the citrus taste was wonderful and quite strong which is precisely the outcome I was hoping for. I also cheated a little and only soaked the fruit for two weeks. I imagine the taste would be further enhanced if it was soaked for a longer period but it is definitely good to know that two weeks is sufficient if expediency is a factor. The only thing I would change if I were to make these again would be to use Stephanie's regular shortcrust pastry rather than the sweet variety. It is unbelievably tricky to handle and according to my husband, doesn't have the same wonderful, melt-in-your mouth feel as the regular version. 

So far, the lucky recipients have eaten them straight up and also smashed into vanilla ice-cream. Reports are that both versions are fabulous. Highly recommended.

689/1038 - Stephanie's Christmas mincemeat

Happy New Year! 

It is so lovely to be getting back into this cooking challenge, albeit very slowly. I was looking at my challenge stats this morning (as you do when you are a spreadsheet geek) and noticed that the numbers reflected my path back to wellness. There was a year of zero recipes, followed by a year in which I managed to cook and post four times. This year, which is only halfway over (challenge anniversary is July) I am already posting my third recipe with another to come in a few weeks. Given my slightly improved energy levels, I am hoping that this number will continue to improve year on year because there is no way I am stopping after having cooked almost seven hundred recipes!

As I prepared the mincemeat, complete with the most gorgeous smelling brandy, I reflected on the evolution of my adjustment to a strict low histamine diet. When it comes to food, willpower has never been a strength of mine. In the past, any eating regime I have adopted has generally lasted somewhere between an hour and a few days. The difference now is that guilt is the least of my worries if I cheat. The potential ramifications of eating the wrong thing is a very good motivator and the reason I am now able to resist the foods that used to be favourites of mine. And I had a lot of favourites! 

Take Christmas mince pies, which I have adored since I was very young. The satisfying combination of melt-in-the-mouth pastry and deliciously rehydrated dried fruit was like a drug for me. When I was at my most restrained, I used to help myself to at least three pies and feel no guilt for indulging in what was, at the time, a most innocent pleasure.

Nowadays, just staring too long at a mince pie can be detrimental to my health. Of course I exaggerate, but the ingredients are definitely very high on my no-go list. But with my newfound willpower, I have been happily planning this gorgeous sweet treat for my family for weeks now, with only moments of longing. The desire to be well and to participate in life has finally become significantly stronger than my desire to eat food that will hurt me. The moments of pleasure are simply not worth the repercussions, which can be terrifying and can cause my general health to take several steps backward. Even so, it can be a lonely endeavour. 

I had to laugh last night when my husband, warmed by the glow of several ales, expressed the most gorgeous show of solidarity, professing that he will be eating the same diet as me for two months so that he can better understand how it feels. Within an hour, two months had become two days and today, he meekly confessed that it may or may not happen at all. I am absolutely fine with that of course, very much appreciating the sentiment, regardless of follow through. 

So, it will be mince pie time in a few weeks, and perhaps some mincemeat ice-cream if I am feeling particularly industrious. Watch this space!

688/1038 - Brandied cumquats

This recipe was actually made a couple of years ago, put in a cupboard to mature and then promptly forgotten. My desire to add these beauties to Stephanie's Christmas mince pies brought them again to the front of my mind. Digging through my heavily laden pantry, I was desperately hoping that the boozy little jar had miraculously survived the many clean outs and reshuffles that occur periodically in my kitchen. 

Survive it did, and I excitedly scooped out the contents, marvelling at how much the alcohol soaked cumquats looked like the shrivelled thumbs of my children after they had sat in the bath for too long. It didn't require much coaxing to convince the two citrus loving men of my household to test them out to ensure they had not gone bad. 

The verdict was a good one - apparently the cumquats were still lovely and tart, with a heavenly brandy flavour throughout. I cannot wait to add these to all sorts of desserts over the coming months, even if I can't eat them myself! Things are definitely stabilising in that department and I am very much hoping that citrus will be back on the menu for me in the next couple of years. In the meantime, my boys will have an extra helping of my lovely citrus desserts all to themselves. 

Stay tuned for Stephanie's (post) Christmas mince pies! 

687/1038 - Raspberry sauce

Keen to get another recipe on the books, my inspiration for making this sauce was a half bag of frozen raspberries which had been languishing in the freezer. I love fruit but raspberries are just one of the foods that now switch my mast cells to fight mode and so this sauce was created for the enjoyment of the two other raspberry lovers in my family. The sauce, or coulis, was ridiculously easy to make and the result was smooth, glossy and very professional looking. Even better, the making of this recipe fortuitously coincided with a freshly churned batch of homemade vanilla ice-cream. 

Having to rely on taste testers can be a tough gig when all I can extract from them is, "It's really good". Enter Luke, my gorgeous taste tester ring-in who happened to be at our house helping out with some odd jobs. According to Luke, the sauce provided an instant hint of tart berry flavour which was immediately followed by a gentle sweetness. The flavour of the brandy was subtle but pleasing and the sauce had just the right amount of viscosity which enabled it to cling to each spoonful of ice-cream for maximum enjoyment. 

By all accounts (some more articulate than others) a successful project.